Speaking live over an Internet video connection at South by Southwest today, ex-contractor Edward Snowden said that “every society in the world has benefited” from National Security Agency leaks.

When asked how satisfied he is with the resulting NSA debate, Snowden shared that he would serve again as a whistleblower if he had a second chance.

“Would I do this again? The answer is yes.”

When asked on Twitter if it’s “possible to reap the benefits of big data … without turning the U.S. into a dystopian surveillance state,” Snowden emphasized the importance of consent. “Data should not be collected without people’s knowledge or consent,” he said.

Snowden’s discussion with American Civil Liberties Union principal technologist Christopher Soghoian left us with many aggressive talking points, including a claim that “the NSA is setting fire to the future of the Internet.”

Later on, Snowden stated that the U.S. “needs a watchdog that watches Congress.”

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Edward Snowden is an American former technical contractor for the United States National Security Agency (NSA) and a former employee of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) who leaked details of several top-secret U.S. and British gov... read more »